Printing press



July 21, 1942. E. w. DEAN ETAL PRINTING PRESS Filed May 16, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l July 21, 1942. E. w. DEAN ETAL PRINTING PRESS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 16, 1940 Patented July 21, 1942 UN HE D T OFFICE PRINTHVG PRESS Michigan Application May 16, 1940, Serial No. 335,608

15 Claims.

Our invention relates to printing presses, and the principal object thereof is to provide( a novel drive for reciprocating the impression cylinder carrying frame of fiat bed printing presses having printing forms placed on one or more sta-,

tionary flat beds and having related impression cylinders and form inking rollers reciprocably mounted over the forms, the said cylinders and inking rollers being journaled in a slidable frame, usually referred to as a crosshead, which frame is reciprocated forwardly and backwardly over the forms.

In such presses the web of paper to be printed is fed from a web roll continuously into the printing sections of the press frame, and also fed continuously from said sections to a folder. While portions of the paper web are being printed, such portions are held stationary during the time-the cylinders and inking rolls are being rolled over the forms. rolled over the forms, said printed portions of the web are shifted sufiiciently to present new portions of the web, by means in common use. Such presses are built in two main types, one type being known as a one-way press printing while the cylinder frame is moved on one stroke only, the cylinders being lifted from the forms on the return stroke; and the second type being known as a two-way press printing on each stroke of the cylinder frame. Each stroke of the cylinder frame must be sufnciently long to allow not only the cylinders but their inking rolls to pass beyond the entire forms.

In a two-way press particularly, in order to make the stroke of the cylinder frame as short as possible, the paper web must be shifted within the allowed period at each end of the stroke, i. e., between the time that the impression cylinders pass beyond the forms and until they again contact the forms on the reverse stroke. When the press is equipped with the usual crosshead drive commonly in use, i. e., the large crank wheel and swinging connecting rod, there is a difference in the time of reversal of the stroke at the inner and outer ends thereof. Thus, if there is just time enough at one end of the stroke in which to shift the paper web, there will be at the other After the cylinders have end of the stroke more than enough time, resultv ing in an unnecessary lengthening of the stroke actually required. In a two-way press different portions of the form are printed at the same speed. This is quite important in printing as the higher the speed the more squeeze must be given to the cylinder, and where the squeeze is enough on one part of the stroke it might be insufficient for the same portion of the form printed at a higher speed.

One main object of our invention is to provide a printing press of the above type having a drive in which the reciprocable frame carrying the impression cylinders will have its stroke reversed at each end thereof, within equal time intervals, that is, there will be no fast and slow end of the stroke, such as is inherently embodied in the usual crank Wheel and connecting rod drive.

Another object of our invention is to provide a drive for the reciprocable cylinder frame in presses of the above type which will take up less room at the side of the press, and will permit safe access by the pressman to the interior press mechanism; our drive lending itself to very simple guarding, so that the pressman need only avoid the horizontal motion of the cylinder frame or crosshead. Printing presses require substan-- tially constant attention of the pressman to adjust the amount of squeeze between the cylinders and forms, the inking rollers, the in-feed and out-feed of the paper web, and the folder, and thus in printing presses the matter of safety of the attendant is particularly important.

A further object is to provide a drive which will be easily housed or guarded, so that the mechanism may be run in an oil bath, or can be readily reached for lubrication.

A still further object is to provide a drive which will eliminate the dead center position always present in a crank motion in any machine; and will eliminate the vertical component of the angular thrust of the usual connecting rod; thus eliminating irregular vertical strains set up by the action of the usual connecting rod on various parts of the machine.

Other minor objects of our invention will be hereinafter set forth.

We will explain the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one practical embodiment thereof to enable others familiar with the art to adopt and use the same; and will summarize in the claims, the novel features of construction, and novel combinations of parts, for which protection is desired.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a flat bed Web perfecting printing press, of the one-way type, embodying our novel drive for the reciprocable impression cylinder carrying frames, the outer housing of the drive being removed.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section through the cylinder frame reciprocating drive, showing the position of the parts at the extreme inward end of the stroke.

Fig. 3 is a partial side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 2, with the outer housing removed.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section, similar to Fig. 2, showing a modification of the counterbalancing means.

Our invention is illustrated in connection with a flat bed perfecting printing press, of the oneway type, having side frames I suitably connected together, with a web feeding and delivery section at one end thereof, and a printing section including upper and lower stationary beds adjacent the other end over which the related impression cylinders are moved, said cylinders being journaled in frames reciprocally mounted on the side frames I. The reciprocable cylinder frames 9 at each side of the press are connected together in the usual manner to operate as a unit, and have tongues or rollers which slide or roll in suitable guideways in the side frames I in the usual manner.

In the embodiment shown, the web of paper to is delivered from a roll W journaled in the usual manner at one end of the frames I. Web 10 passes under guide roll 2 and over and around feed roll 3, over feed roll 4 and under guide roll 5, to and around guide roll 6, from whence it passes around looping roll I, over guide roll 3 mounted on the reciprocable cylinder frame 9, Z

and passes between the lower impression cylinder Ill in frame 9 and the lower type form II, from whence the web passes over guide roll I2 in frame 9 to and around guide rolls I3 and I4 at the opposite end of the side frames I from web roll W, and from thence over guide roll I5 on frame 9, and between the upper impression roll I6 and the upper type form I1, from thence web 10 passes over guide roll I8 on frame 9, to and around looping roll I9, to and over guide roll 20, and around delivery roll 2|, from whence web w passes around guide roll 22 to the web turners 23 which direct the web to the usual folder (not shown). The type forms II and H are respectively inked by suitable inking rollers cooperating with a lower fountain 24 and an upper fountain 25, adjacent the outer end of side frames I, in the usual manner. The above parts are well known in the art, and form no part of our present invention, and need no further description herein.

Heretofore the impression cylinder carrying frame 9, usually called the crosshead, has been reciprocated by means of a large crank wheel journaled in the side frames at the web feed and delivery end of the press, said wheel having a pin thereon connected by a relatively long connecting rod with the crosshead. The crosshead is constrained against vertical motion by tongues extending into guideways in the side frames allowing only horizontal motion of the crosshead. The said pin on the large crank wheel, in its revolution, is near the top of the wheel at one mid-stroke of the crank wheel, and near the bottom of the wheel on the reverse mid-stroke. The vertical component of the thrust of the connecting rod on the crosshead, due to angularity of the connecting rod, causes pressures vertically between the tongues on the crosshead and the retaining guideways in the side frames, which pressures vary at different portions of the stroke, and cause irregular wear of the parts and also set up non-usable friction which absorbs power.

Our novel drive eliminates the customary crank wheel and relatively long swinging connecting Cil rod, and eliminates the disadvantages above mentioned resulting from the use thereof, our drive being designed according to the geometric principle that a point in a circle which is rolling inside of a large circle whose diameter is twice that of the rolling circle, travels in a straightline forming a diameter of the large circle.

In our invention, a crank shaft 25 is mounted on a horizontal axis in the side frames I, at an elevation corresponding approximately to the vertical center of the reciprocable cylinder frame 9, said shaft 26 carrying a large gear 51 fixed thereon and driven from a gear 5I on a drive shaft 50 adjacent the bottom of frames I, through intermediate gear 52 journaled on a stub shaft in the side frames in any desired manner. Any other desired means for rotating the crank shaft 26 however may be used. Shaft 26 is journaled in suitable bearings 21 in each side frame I and extends through both side frames of the press, and carries on each end a crank arm 28 fixedly mounted on the shaft 26 by a key 29 so as to rotate as a unit therewith. The outer faces of the side frames I are preferably recessed at Ia (Figs. 2 and l) to receive the arms 28 which rotate therein in order to provide a more compact arrangement of parts. Mounted upon the outer face of each side frame I, coaxially with the shaft 25, is a large annular gear 30 of pitch diameter equal to the desired stroke of the reciprocable cylinder frame 9, said gear 30 preferably having a flange 3I secured by bolts 32 or the like to the side frame I.

On each crank arm 28 is a bearing pin 33 for a disk or wheel 34 carrying on its inner face a ring gear 35 securely attached to disk 3-1, said ring gear 35 having half the number of teeth as the fixed annular gear 30 and therefore being of exactly half the pitch diameter as annular gear 38. Disk or wheel 33 carries on its outer face a bearing pin 34 whose axis coincides with the pitch circle of the ring gear 35, and the teeth of gears 35 and 3B are so meshed that when the arm 28 of crank shaft 26 is disposed horizontally, as in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the axis of bearing pin 3'! will also be disposed on the pitch circle of annular gear 33 at the end of the horizontal diameter of said annular gear 30 adjacent the web roll W.

Connected to the bearing pin 3 on disk 34 is a horizontal rod 35, the opposite end of which is directly connected with the reciprocable cylinder frame 9, as shown in Fig. 1, rod 36 being of such length that when the pin 34 is in the mid-position of its stroke, i. e., directly opposite the axis of shaft 25 on the horizontal diameter of annular gear 30, the reciprocable cylinder frame 9 will be in its mid-position with respect to the type forms II and H, the rod 36 remaining horizontal and in the same plane throughout its stroke, since the movement of bearing pin 34' throughout its stroke is along the horizontal diameter of the annular gear 30 owing to the relation of the sizes of gears 35 and 35 and to the location of pin 34' on disk 34.

While the rod 36 is shown as a separate member from the cylinder frame 9, and same would ordinarily comprise a separate member attached thereto for convenience in manufacture, it is obvious that rod 35 might form an integral part of the cylinder frame since the rod travels in a straight line as distinguished from the customary swinging connecting rod movement in the, ordinary crank wheel and connecting rod drive of such presses.

In order to counterbalance the weight of disk 34 and its gear 35, shaft 26 is preferably provided with an arm 28a diametrically opposite to arm 28, said arm 28a. carrying a journal 3312 for a counterbalancing gear 34a of somewhat smaller diameter than gear 35, gear 34a meshing with the annular gear 30, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, but merely rotating idly around the annular gear 30 out of mesh with ring gear 35 as the shaft 26 is rotated. Instead of using the counterbalancing gear 34a, however, the arm 28a may be provided merely with a counterbalancing weight 31, as shown in Fig. 4, sufficient to offset the Weights of the crank arm 28, disk 34, and ring gear 35.

Preferably a circular housing 38 (Figs. 2 and 4) is provided over the entire annular gear 30 and enclosing the cranks 28, 28a, gears 35, 34a, and disk 34, said housing being provided with an opening 38a in one end for passage of the rod 36; and said housing serving not only to protect the pressman from moving parts of the drive mechanism, but also serving to receive and hold lubricant for the moving parts of the drive, thus forming an eificient means of lubricating the parts of the drive.

By the above construction, as the crank shaft 26 is rotated, the disk 34 will be caused to rotate within the annular gear 30 since its ring gear 35 is in constant mesh with said annular gear 30. Owing to the proportion of the gears 30 and 35, as disk 34 rotates the bearing pin 34' will always move along the horizontal diameter of annular gear 30 from side to side of said gear 39, thereby converting the rotary motion of shaft 26 into a straight-line motion of pin 34, causing rod 36 to move axially and thereby reciprocate the cylinder frame 9. In Figs. 2 and 3 the pin 34 is shown in position to retract frame 9 to its extreme innermost position of its stroke adjacent gear 30, while in Fig. 1 the frame 9 is shown in position slightly beyond its mid-position on the outward stroke, and disk 34 is therefore in such position in annular gear 39 that its pin 34, while on the horizontal diameter of gear 3!], is slightly to the right of the axis of shaft 26, in Fig. 1.

The improved mechanism delivers each stroke within the same time interval; that is, there is no fast and slow end of the stroke. When applied to a press which prints on each stroke (two-way press) the time of reversing the crosshead is the same at both ends of the stroke. In a two-way press different portions of the form are printed at the same speed. This is quite important in printing, as the higher the speed the more squeeze must be given to the cylinder and where the squeeze is enough on one part of the stroke it might be insufiicient for the same portion of the form printed at a higher speed. Our drive provides for maximum safety of the pressman who must continuously give attention to the amount of squeeze between the cylinders and forms to the inking rollers, and to the in-feed and out-feed of the paper web, also to the folder. In our drive there is only the horizontal motion to the cross-head for the pressman to avoid. Our novel drive takes up less room at each side of the press, allowing better access to the interior mechanism; it lends itself to simple guarding or housing; it is more easily housed or guarded so that the mechanism can be made to run in an oil bath, or can be more readily reached for lubricating; it eliminates the dead center position always present in a crank motion on any machine; and eliminates the vertical components of thrust set up by the angularity of the usual connecting rod, and thus eliminates the irregular vertical strains on various members or parts of the press.

While We have illustrated the invention in connection with a one-way press, it is obvious that same might be similarly applied to a two-way press; also our drive would be applied to the crossheads or cylinder frame 9 at both sides of the side frames of the press.

We do not consider our invention limited to the exact details shown in the drawings, for obviously changes may be made therein within the scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. In a web printing press having a web roll and having side frames supporting a stationary fiat .bed and supporting a reciprocable frame carrying the related impression cylinder and bed inking rolls; means for shifting the web at the ends of the printing strokes of the impression cylinder; a horizontal shaft journaled in the side frames adjacent one end thereof and having crank arms; means for rotating said shaft; internal gears fixedly mounted on the outer faces of the side frames coaxially of said shaft; members journaled on said crank arms having gear teeth meshing with said internal gears and of half the pitch circle thereof; pins on said members having their axes coinciding with the pitch circles of the gear teeth thereof, and coinciding with the pitch circles of the internal gears when the crank arms are disposed in the plane of movement of the reciprocable frame; and rods connecting the pins with said reciprocable frame, whereby the rods will remain in the plane of movement of the reciprocable frame throughout the stroke of the pins as the shaft is rotated.

2. In a printing press as set forth in claim 1, second arms on the shaft within the internal gears extending oppositely from the crank arms; and weighted members on said second arms adapted to counterbalance the weights of the said members.

3. In a printing press as set forth in claim 1, second arms on the shaft within the internal gears extending oppositely from the crank arms; and second gears on said second arms adapted to counterbalance the weights of the said members; said second gears meshing with the internal gears and being of smaller diameter than the pitch circles of the gear teeth of said members.

4. In a printing press as set forth in claim 1, casings on the side frames covering the internal gears, members, and crank arms, said casings having openings for said rods.

5. In a printing press as set forth in claim 1, casings on the side frames covering the internal gears, members, and crank arms, said casings having openings for said rods; and lubricant in said casings below the openings.

6. In a web printing press having a web roll and having side frames supporting a stationary horizontal flat bed and supporting a reciprocable frame carrying the related impression cylinder and bed inking rolls; means for shifting the web at the ends of the printing strokes of the impression cylinder; a horizontal shaft journaled in the side frames adjacent one end thereof and having crank arms; means for rotating said shaft; internal gears fixedly mounted on the outer faces of the side frames coaxially of said shaft; disks journaled on said crank arms having gear teeth meshing with said internal gears and of half the pitch diameters of the internal gears;

pins on said disks having their axes coinciding with the pitch circles of the gear teeth thereof, and coinciding with the pitch circles of the internal gears when the crank arms are disposed horizontally; and rods connecting the pins with said reciprocable frame, whereby the rods will remain horizontal and in the same plane throughout the strokes of the pins as the shaft is rotated.

7. In a printing press as set forth in claim 6, second arms on the shaft within the internal gears extending oppositely from the crank arms; and weighted members on said second arms adapted to counterbalnce the weights of the disks.

8. In a printing press as set forih in claim 6, second arms on the shaft within the internal gears extending oppositely from the crank arms; and second gears on said second arms adapted to counterbalance the weights of said disks; said second gears meshing with the internal gear and being of smaller diameter than the gear teeth of the disks.

9. In a printing press as set forth in claim 6, casings on the side frames covering the internal gears, disks, and crank arms, said casings having openings for said rods.

10. In a printing press as set forth in claim 6, casings on the side frames covering the internal gears, disks, and crank arms, and casings having openings for said rods; and lubricant in said casings below the openings.

11. In a web printing press having a web roll and having side frames supporting a stationary horizontal flat bed and supporting a reciprocable frame carrying the related impression cylinder and bed inking rolls; means for shifting the web at the ends of the printing strokes of the impression cylinder; a horizontal shaft journaled in the side frames adjacent one end thereof; means for rotating said shaft; internal gears fixedly mounted on the outer faces of the side frames coaxially of said shaft; crank arms on said shaft disposed in recesses in the side frames within the gears; disks journaled on said arms having gear teeth meshing with said internal gears and of half the pitch diameters of the annular gears; pins on said disks having their aXes coinciding with the pitch circles of the gear teeth thereof, and coinciding with the pitch circles of the internal gears when the arms are disposed horizontally; and rods connecting the pins with said reciprocable frame, whereby the rods will remain horizontal and in the same plane throughout the strokes of the pins along the horizontal diameter of the internal gears as the shaft is rotated.

12. In a printing press as set forth in claim 11, second arms on the shaft within the internal gears extending oppositely from the crank arms; and weighted members on said second arms adapted to counterbalance the weights of the crank arms and said disks.

13. In a printing press as set forth in claim 11, second arms on the shaft within the internal gears extending oppositely from the crank arms; and second gears on said second arms adapted to counterbalance the Weights of the crank arms and said disks; said second gears meshing with the internal gears and being of smaller diameter than the gear teeth of the disks.

14. In a printing press as set forth in claim 11, casings on the side frames covering the internal gears, disks, and crank arms; said casings having openings for said rods.

15. In a printing press as set forth in claim 11, casings on the side frames covering the internal gears, disks, and crank arms; said casings having openings for said rods; and lubricant in said casings below the openings.

EDMUND W. DEAN. JAMES L. BLACKLEY. 

